Soap-frame



o. w; GATES.

' SOAP FRAME.

(No Model.)

Patented 1390.22, 1896.

fave/06m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES \V. GATES, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

SOAP-FRAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 573,459, dated December 22, 1896.

Application filed March 30, 1896.

To aZZ whom, zit may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES WV. GATES, of Elgin, Kane county, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Soap- Frames, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my improvement is to provide a frame or vat into which soap can be poured while in a liquid state to hold it during the process of cooling and hardening and one which can be readily taken apart to remove the soap. Frames to be adapted to this purpose have to have sufficient capacity to hold about one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of soap, and when this cools it makes a very unwieldy block. Hence it is necessary that the sides and ends of the frame should be capable of being taken down to remove the block. The frames heretofore used for this purpose have been chiefly of wood and divided into five piecestwo sides, two ends, and the bottom. To set up and take down a frame of this description is hence a task of some difficulty, especially as the soap always sticks to the sides and makes them difficult to remove without crumbling the block.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a partial plan showing one end. Fig. 4 is a section of the base. Fig. 5 is a detail of the device for clamping the ends to the base. Fig. 6 is a plan of one side with the end folded up. The same reference-figures refer to the same parts in the different views.

Referring to the drawings, my improvement has a base portion which consists of a main block or slab 1. Above this is fastened another block 2 of smaller dimensions than the first. The edges of this block are beveled off, as shown in Fig. 4, the object of which will be referred to later on. Fastened to the perimeter of the block 1 are the strips 3, fitted to the angle-irons 4, one face of the angleirons completing, with the beveled edge of the block 2, a groove 5, extending around the base parallel to its sides or ends, as the case may be. For each side of the soap-frame I provide a plate 19, strengthened bya number of an gle-irons 6.

side is an end plate 7. Riveted to each end Hinged to oneend of each- $erial No. 585,387. (No model.)

of each side plate 19 are vertical angle-irons 8, against which the end plate 7 rests when the frame is set up. As a means of clamping the end plate to the base I provide an angleiron 9, which is riveted to the end plate, one flange of this angle projecting perpendicularly to the end plate. A pin or bolt 10 is fastened to this flange, and on this bolt is fitted another bolt 11, having a long'eye 12, through which the bolt 10 passes. The base is provided with a slot 13, in which the bolt 11 is placed, and the nut 14 serves to clamp the end firmly to the base. The object of the eye 12 will be referred to farther on. To clamp the sides together, I provide the eyebolts 15, fastened to one side and having other eyebolts 16, adapted to be fitted into a slot 17 on the opposite side and having a nut 18 to clamp the whole structure together.

In the operation of the frame after the sides and ends have'been placed in their respective grooves and the end and base bolts tightened up the soap in a liquid state is poured into the interior. Its weight serves to push the ends against the angles on the ends of the sides and to push the ends and sides against the flat part of their corresponding grooves, thus making in each case a tight joint. After the soap has cooled sufficiently and become hard the nuts are loosened and the end bolts released. The ends then are sprung outwardly enough to free them from the block of soap, and then the sides are tipped ontward from the top. The object of the shape of the grooves in which the sides rest will now be apparent, since the bevel of the inner face of the groove allows the bottom of the side to swing in slightly as its top is pushed outward, thus avoiding the necessity of lifting the sides out of the groove and crumbling the soap. After the sides have been removed and the ends swung in the bolt 11 is turned on the bolt 10 and allowed to drop down the full length of the slot 12 until it is in the position as shown in Fig. 5, when it lies up against the end plate and cannot fall outward until it is again lifted up to the end of the slot.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In a soap-frame, the combination of a base portion, two side plates each provided with a vertical flange at each end, end plates flexibly joined to said side plates, said flexible joints being within said end flanges whereby said flanges are adapted to support said end plates when the frame is set up in its normal position, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a soap-frame, the combination of a base portion provided with a groove parallel to and just within its perimeter, two side plates each provided with an angle-iron at each end, an end plate hinged to one end of each side plate and adapted to be supported by one of said end angle-irons, said end and side plate adapted to be received in said groove, eyebolts adapted to bind said side plates together, and bolts adapted to bind said end plates to said base, as and for the purpose set forth. S. In a soap-frame, the combination of a base portion, two side plates each provided with an angle-iron at each end, an end plate hinged to one end of each side'plate and provided with a projecting flange, a bolt fastened to said flange by means of a pin work ing in a slot in one end of said bolt, the play 2 

